From the publisher’s side of things, there seems to be a general assumption that there are more people writing short fiction than there are consumers reading it (though it’s not a universally held assumption, and may live slightly more in the “gripes” category than reality). At the very least, the ship seems to be sinking…
Warren Ellis recently posted a (hopefully) inflammatory post about Science Fiction Magazine Sales in 2006, data culled primarily from Gardner Dozois’ YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION anthology: Asimov’s at 15k, Analog at 28k, F&SF at 18k, Interzone at 2-3k. ((circulation numbers per issue))

Someone recently said to me, “Well, what could you do to save them?” And I said, well, no-oneâ€™s asking, but thereâ€™s probably about twelve things that could be done. And they said, “Well, maybe, but what I really meant was — why try? Why not just bury them and start anew?”

In a later post, he goes on to further explain something behind the cry of “Why try?”:

ASIMOVâ€™S, ANALOG, F&SF — they donâ€™t think they need saving. I mean, they havenâ€™t changed for years, have they? Theyâ€™re not designed to be wanted because they donâ€™t want to be wanted, not really. They want to be left alone to do their thing, and they donâ€™t want any loud new people in the room.

And backing up a moment, then, more to the purposes of this post…

A few people have asked me what the twelve things that could be done to ‘save’ the sf magazines are. Maybe Iâ€™ll get into that next week, if the time becomes available. Half of them start with this: a magazine is a thing that must be designed to be wanted.

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